Richard “Lennon” Audrain, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and Shawnee Tribe, is a research assistant professor at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. He leads the strategy on the Next Education Workforce initiative’s Teacher & School Leader grant, an $8.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to ASU in partnership with Mesa Public Schools to redesign human capital management systems in education. In addition to his role as a research professor, Lennon teaches Education Professions, a career and technical education and grow-your-own program designed to generate and sustain high schoolers’ interest in the teaching profession, at Skyline High School in Mesa Public Schools. Previously, Lennon taught Latin, Spanish, and English in both Arizona and Massachusetts.
Lennon’s research interests explore human capital management systems. As the product of a high school grow-your-own program and the former national president of Educators Rising, Lennon’s particular interest in human capital management systems is on teacher recruitment, preparation, and new roles for in-service and pre-service educators.
Lennon earned his PhD in educational policy and evaluation from Arizona State University in May 2023–at age 23. He was the youngest graduate from both his Master’s classes at Arizona State University and Harvard University. He earned his first Master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Arizona State University at age 19 and his second Master’s degree in technology, innovation, and education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education at age 21.